These days, potential customers aren’t scanning the phone book and cold calling you to find out more about your products and services. They’re Googling companies like yours and comparing the digital presence of you and your competitors, including social media and your website. A solid social media strategy can intrigue visitors, but a website is where you spotlight your unique branding and message, make your case for why they should work with you and give them the tools to find out more.

So, it’s imperative that a site is at the top of search engine results, quick to load, well-designed, aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. Otherwise, your potential lead will jump to the next company, most likely a competitor. Your website is the first real impression you make on potential clients, and you have one chance – and just a few seconds – to pique their interest.

The data bears it out: According to a recent study by IT company and software review site GoodFirms, 88.5% of visitors leave because of slow loading speed (more than a couple of seconds and you’re sunk), 73.1% because it’s not mobile-responsive, 61.5% because of poor navigation and 38.5% because of outdated design. And remember: Every visitor who clicks away is a lost sale.

Here are six ways to improve your website in order to convert more leads and grow your sales numbers.

1. Use keywords.
Brainstorm words and phrases that you want associated with your company, such as “promotional products” and “branded merchandise,” the industries you serve, and your geographical location including town, state and nearby cities. Including them in copy on the site will not only help your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy so you appear higher in Google results, but also make your capabilities and value proposition clear. Also make sure to update the meta descriptions – the copy that appears underneath the page titles in search result lists – with keywords to intrigue people to click through.

2. Simplify navigation.
You can put hours of work into your website, but if pages are too busy or outdated-looking and it’s hard to find information quickly, visitors will click away and move on. Keep the design clean, with a few main categories (like New Products, Shop By Category, About and Contact) at the top. Include a call-to-action that’s not a hard sale, such as signing up for your mailing list for new-product announcements and specials, or downloading white papers on how to use promo in specific industries.

3. Include testimonials.
After each a successful close, ask your client to provide brief comments on their experience working with you that you can put on your website. Include their name with their approval, but definitely mention their general industry at the end. That will resonate with visitors to your site from that specific sector – they’ll be pleased to see a happy, satisfied customer from among their peers and it also shows that you have experience in providing promo to that industry.

88.5%
of website visitors leave because of slow loading speed.

(GoodFirms)

4. Refresh content.
Here’s a major website faux pas: advertising end-of-year product sales at the top of your homepage in July. Don’t just set it and forget it – be sure the content on your site is consistently updated. Every couple of weeks, tweak the featured content and new products, make sure to use crisp images whenever necessary (too much copy is overwhelming for visitors), and scan the site for any broken links that need to be fixed. Keeping it fresh and functional is critical to keeping people there and interested in learning more about what you can offer them.

5. Improve load speed.
Studies show that a website that takes just a few extra seconds to load can decrease conversions precipitously. If yours takes more than two seconds, it’s game over. Use a speed test like Google PageSpeed to see how your page performs and what Google recommends for improvement. It could be a simple solution like reducing the size of images, or more technical like trimming the number of HTTP requests your site makes (data available in Google Chrome browser tools). Do some digging and find out what the culprit could be. And of course, these days, all websites should be mobile-responsive, which means they’re easy to navigate on a smartphone screen.

6. Enlist an expert.
If the ins and outs of website design and performance are outside your wheelhouse, consider hiring an expert to build the site to your specifications and maintain it for you. Depending on the company, site-building could cost about $5,000 to $10,000, and designers then charge hourly rates for upkeep. It may sound steep, but your website is critical to your digital presence; it shouldn’t just be a summer job for the kid next door. A shoddy site can do long-lasting damage to your digital presence – and business reputation – that can be hard to undo. After all, if the first brand image you present is less than impressive, how will people trust you with theirs?